Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 160041 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 800(@200wpm)___ 640(@250wpm)___ 533(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160041 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 800(@200wpm)___ 640(@250wpm)___ 533(@300wpm)
Spine Ridge University.
I stare at the collection of pictures I’ve gathered, including the ones I took of each of the members of the Rivera, Torres, Caruso, Navarro, Reed, and Preston families.
I think it’s about time I paid them another visit.
They’ve got a serial killer in their midst.
I exit the vehicle and stare up at the old, impressively sized building that houses so many students. Spine Ridge University and its massive wooden doors really make one stare in awe at its magnificence … as well as the dark secrets it holds.
Sucking in a breath, I close the car door and walk toward the main entrance. It’s been some time since I was last here, and it never fails to make me feel uneasy. These campus grounds are haunted by memories of those who came before me, and not all who walk here do so with a clean conscience.
Deviants, gamblers, and killers are born and bred in these halls, and I will make sure each one of them faces the full consequences of their actions according to the law, just like they deserve.
I enter the main hallway and head up the stairs, but on my way up, a woman with peculiar green-and-black hair, wearing black jeggings and a ruffled top, darts past me so fast I’m nearly knocked off my feet.
A whiff of her perfume enters my nostrils, and I turn my head to follow the scent as she sprints out the door. I don’t know why I stopped walking, or what possessed me to take another glance, but something about that woman makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
My eyes widen.
It’s her.
She was the girl I saved in the forest. The girl who, when interviewed at the hospital, refused to answer any of our questions about the reason she was there in the first place … and why she was bleeding profusely.
She seems to be back on her feet quick enough.
I wonder if her family knows, or if she still hasn’t told a soul what happened to her.
When she’s out of sight, I turn around again and make my way up the stairs to the third floor, and I knock on the dean’s office just once before I open the door.
“Come in.” His stern voice is the first thing that makes me scowl before I even see his goddamn eerie face.
“Atreus Foley …” he grumbles as I step inside.
“Felix Rivera,” I retort, equally unimpressed at having to see him again.
“Why are you here?” he asks in a negative tone, gawking at me with those sanpaku eyes.
I can see why my father hated him.
“I could ask you the same question.” I slam the door shut. “Remember our conversation a few months ago?”
“I tried my best to forget,” he says, tilting his head as he rests it on the palm of his hand. “But you just won’t let me.”
“Because I have two more bodies, and there’s another one added every day.”
“What’s that got to do with my school?”
I fold my arms. “Have you forgotten the number of missing people working for your family? Or the fact that there have been several murders on these grounds already?” I plant my hands down on the desk. “A murderer is running this school.”
“Be careful who you accuse, Foley.” The look in his eyes is deadly.
I’d be more forgiving if it weren’t for the fact that I’m fairly certain he’s harboring a bunch of serial killers and aiding them in the cover-up.
“Be careful who you protect,” I warn him, engaging in a stare down.
His nostrils flare. “You’ve offered zero proof.”
“I have enough, trust me,” I say.
“Show me then,” he replies.
A smirk spreads on my face. Yeah, I’m sure he’d like to know all about the photographs and the bodies that we found targeting specific members of the Bones Brotherhood, ones involved with students at the Spine Ridge University. We know because we kept track of their whereabouts and sales, including the ones right here on campus. Some of them have already died after their encounter, and others are probably being tracked.
“No. I’m not going to help you aid your criminal sidekicks by handing over police evidence. I’m not that dense.”
“Assumptions will get you nowhere, Foley.”
The police have turned a blind eye to this family’s antics for years because of corruption and payments, and because they only ever killed mobsters, but enough is enough.
These spineless bastards are turning this campus into their own underworld, and I am done with them playing their own judge, jury, and executioner.
“You will put an end to this,” I say. “Or I will.”
The look in his eyes darkens. “Is that a threat, Foley? I thought your father taught you better than to get in the way of the Riveras and the Torreses.”
My jaw clenches as we engage in another stare down.